Ms. D's Kindergarten News
September 3-5, 2023
MATH: In Math this week, we wrapped up our coin unit in a fun way by using our counting skills to pay for ice cream at the ice cream truck! Students practiced identifying coins and counting money in a real-life situation, which made it really exciting. During Number Corner, we also introduced length, weight, capacity, and temperature, along with the tools we use to measure each one.
PHONICS: In Phonics, we introduced consonant digraphs. Digraphs are two letters that make one sound (sh, ch, th, wh, and ph). We also started learning when to use c, k, and ck. Students are learning that we use ck at the end of a one-syllable word after a short vowel (like duck, sock, and back). We use k at the beginning of a word or before vowels like e, i, or y (like kite, kid, and key). We usually use c at the beginning of a word before a, o, or u (like cat, cot, and cup), and at the end of longer words (2 or more syllables), especially in words that end in -ic (like music and fantastic).
WRITING: To introduce our new opinion writing unit, we read the book Duck! Rabbit! and had a fun discussion about whether the character was a duck or a rabbit. We voted and shared our opinions, and learned that everyone can have their own opinion and there is no right or wrong answer. We also talked about the difference between a fact and an opinion, and learned that opinions are things we think, feel, or believe. Students learned the sight word 'because' and how to give 2–3 reasons to support their opinions. Some of our writing prompts will include favorite things like color, book, or place, as well as fun choices like snakes or spiders, playing outside or reading a book, and camping or staying in a hotel.
SCIENCE: In Science this week we began our Science weather unit. We learned about extreme or severe weather such as thunderstorms, tornados, hurricanes, blizzards and floods. We also focused on how we can prepare for emergency weather situations. We learned that severe weather is weather that doesn't happen very often, and is the kind of weather where it is safest for us to stay INSIDE. With this we also talked a lot about emergency preparedness. We talked about what we should have in our homes to help us. We highly encourage you to talk about the ways that your house is prepared for an emergency situation, show your child where items are, consider making a go bag with them, etc. Below I have linked a website that gives suggestions for what to pack in an emergency backpack. We did a pre-assessment where students circled items they thought would be helpful and then we talked through them. We also packed our own emergency backpack. Students were given a handful of items like sleeping bags, water, food, toys, batteries, etc. They had to decide which items they thought they would need for their own backpacks. To go along with our weather learning, students also became engineers by building paper houses and using different materials to make them stronger. We designed and tested our houses to prepare for a “hurricane” (Ms. D’s fan!) and worked to see if they could withstand the windstorm. Students had so much fun testing, improving, and learning through hands-on exploration!
We will continue to talk about weather next week, but our focus will be on more standard weather like sunny, snowy, rainy and the tools we use to measure them.
Star Student of the week: Swadhi
Swadhi was our star student this week. We loved learning all about her favorite things!
On Wednesday, Kool Kidz Ice Cream came to help our kindergarten students practice their coin counting skills! Unfortunately, it started raining in the middle of purchasing our ice cream, so we had to hurry to get back inside. Instead of enjoying our treats at the park, we headed back to the classroom and watched a weather episode of The Magic School Bus while we ate our yummy treat! This also means I didn't get as many pictures or our traditional group photo in front of the ice cream truck. We still had a great time!
Kindergarten will be going to the Woodland Park Zoo on Wednesday May 20th! We will need volunteers to join us (the school will only be paying for 2 volunteers for each class but we would LOVE to have more volunteers if possible so if you can join us and pay your own way or already have a zoo membership, please let us know.The zoo has strict guidelines for student-to-chaperone ratios, so we will need at least 2 volunteers for our class (3–4 is preferred). Please let me know if you are available to chaperone the last field trip of the year!
Shop our class page:https://orders.scholastic.com/RJTJM
If you would like to purchase these books for Christmas, please order soon to make sure they arrive in time. Happy reading!
Class code: RJTJM
Deanna Daneshi-Far
Email: deanna.daneshifar@brightonschool.com
Location: 21705 58th Avenue West Mountlake Terrace, WA 98043
Phone: 425-640-7067